Brain Vomit 47

Wow, I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I last posted here. I have been very busy and as much as I want to sit down and rant, complain and get it out of my head. I haven’t had the time. This started as a quick 15 minute exercise so I could become a better writer, maybe think a bit more clearly and get to the point . As I wrote more and more I would sit in front of my computer thinking for way longer than 15 minutes trying to come up with something clever to say. Maybe I should put a timer and post a bunch of unfinished thoughts. Which is what this is more or less.

Brain Vomit 46

Let's get back into the habit of writing. Sorry I have been inactive from this blog. I’d like to say that I am super busy, which I am, but I just need to manage my time better. It’s much easier to check my e-mails, then check social media and poof all my time is gone and I’m squandering for minutes. It’s a bad habit. I like to disguise my unproductivity as being productive. “It’s for the shop”; “I’m learning something”; “I’m looking for Ideas” when in reality I’m just scrolling through social media. Even with this blog, “I’m polishing my writing and critical thinking skills while creating content for my blog” but I could literally grab a bike hanging in my shop and make money today.

I don’t think I’m avoiding work. I just don’t think you can be on HUSTLE MODE 24/7. Your brain just starts to check out. I also think the opposite is true for someone when you are a workaholic, whenever you have free time you fill it with work.

Example, I’m going to Argentina the last 2 weeks of November to visit family and relax. I also decided to organize a gravel race In Argentina on November 27th. I have a lot of work to do and will probably spend all my vacation working. But if you like what you do You don’t mind it. Right? Maybe there’s something terribly wrong with me.

Anyway. If you happen to be in Pinamar, Bs.As. on November 27th I’m hosting a 200k gravel race. It’s free to enter, just be ready for a really long day on the bike.

Brain Vomit #45 Protectors of the Status Quo

How dare you try something new? How dare you see things differently? Do you think you are better than us? What makes you think you can change things? This is now how it’s supposed to be done. Stick to the rules and do the same thing that has been done a thousand times before. Don’t change things. Don’t make me think harder.

I call these people the protectors of the status quo. They are everywhere: in technology, in business, in politics, etc. Huge deniers that a better future is possible and the best days are behind us. They wish things could be the way they used to be, though probably they weren’t any happier then. A romanticized version of themselves in times past remains in their memory. They protect the status quo because they are afraid of the future, change might be an inconvenience. Afraid of becoming obsolete. In the bike industry these used to be some of the “Steel is real!” guys, but now you see it with Carbon fiber guys as well with the emergence of 3D printed metals, they are afraid of being replaced. No more demand for mediocre work. The ones who are truly talented in their craft (no matter how old the craft is) don’t voice their opinion, they are too busy working.

My advice to deal with these people? Don’t be influenced by them, you’ll become a jaded person just like them, incapable of being happy. They are the minority and have lots of time to waste. Spending most of the time on the internet voicing out their opinions. But remember they are still the minority. The only thing that brings them joy is watching people pushing the limits fail. Even though for those pushing the limits going too far is good, otherwise how would you know where the limit is? Back to the drawing board and reiterate. My advice is to reiterate and continue pushing the limits, continue learning and keep your mind open. It’s ok to be an skeptic, but a denyer is just dumb and ignorant. Keep moving forward, eventually they’ll learn to cope with your old ideas. But anything new and groundbreaking they will hate.

Brain Vomit #44

If I don’t force myself to start writing, I’m not gonna do it. It’s easy to see all the work I have to do and say “I’m too busy to write a blog post.” There’s no financial incentive to sit down and write, especially when I have a ton of work to do. Time is limited and in comparison to real work, writing seems like a waste of time. The truth is that I need it. Say what I want to say or just sit in front of my computer for a couple of minutes till something comes out. Sometimes by force, pushing my fingers so deep into the throat of my intellect till a thought worth thinking comes out. Keeps my mind engaged and helps me to make my own thoughts. It’s an exercise and the more I do it the better I get at it. Though I feel I have a very long way till I write something good.

One of the reasons why I stopped blogging was because people started reading them. Which is kind of Ironic. Why would I write something for everyone to read if I don’t want them to read it? I feel like this is the only platform on the internet that I can control and I should use it. Sitting down and writing in a journal sounds a lot less productive to me than writing a blog post. This way at least I am making content! But also I want the people reading my post or engaging with my brand that a real person is behind all this. Not a faceless corporation but a human being. A human benign with a voice and conflicting ideas. I don’t even agree with myself sometimes. How am I supposed to agree with everyone? I’m just doing the best I can to not be a hypocrite and be part of the solution that will give the world a chance for a better future. Most of the time trying to figure out what the best solution would be. I'm exhausted.

This is also where I post memes.

Brain vomit #43

My brain has beef fried for a while. Tons of work. Lots of fires to put out. Working everyday to catch up on repairs as well as planting seeds for a better future of MMFG. For now, enjoy this Tik tok of Hank Green that I found. What do you think about the message? Do you agree? Let me know what you think I’m the comments.

Brain Vomit #42 Judgment Day

When the machines gain consciousness then it’s over for humanity. Right? Isn’t that what movies like Terminator and The Matrix tell us? What would be the purpose of a machine with consciousness? In many ways, I think it would benefit humanity. People have been trained to be efficient employees. Efficient machines taught to value money over their own well-being. Taught that if you promise them a better future ahead, a pay raise, a promotion, a pension their life will be better if they do what they are told. Humans have been trained to be machines without consciousness. Machines trained to do what they are told and keep up with trends. Waiting in line to buy the new smartphone, a branded brick, a shoe made in china. If machines gain consciousness, the walking unconscious would answer to a machine. The artist, the makers, the risk-takers, and true free thinkers might have a new tool to expand their curiosities and make the world a better place. Or the machines will just exterminate human beings because the data shows that our way of life is unsustainable.

One thing is for sure. The technology to replace people acting like machines is already there. One way or other people feel it, they are tired of sitting in front of a laptop reading spreadsheets and sitting on zoom meetings. It’s time to let the machines take over so we can be human beings. Make art, write poems, spend time with the person you love. Go ride a bike and fill your lungs with fresh air.

By the way Terminator 2 is probably my faborite movie.

Brain Vomit #41 Grit you don't mind scrubbing

“Grit you don’t mind scrubbing” means hard work you don’t mind doing or stress you are ok with dealing with. It has been really busy at the shop. The busiest it has ever been. I love my job and my shop, I don’t mind working long hours and building up my business. It does get stressful at times. When things run behind schedule, parts are unavailable or you miscalculated how much work some projects would take, work can get very stressful. It gets stressful because I hate to give my clients bad news. When you are running behind schedule you are delivering bad news and even though most of my clients get it. I don’t like to be behind schedule. Exceeding expectations is where I like to be and when you fail to exceed the first expectation the other things you want to excel at are not as impressive anymore.

I don’t think I'm burnt out but a break would be nice. Going on a couple bike rides during the week without being worried about deadlines would be nice. A vacation would be nice.

Finding the time and mental space to answer emails has been a bit of a chore lately. If i haven’t answered your email please send it again, it probably got buried in my pile of daily emails. I’ll do my best to respond. Finding the time to blog has been hard too. Though writing these is just the first thing that comes to my head. No thought involved, just brain vomit.

If your project is running a little bit late, I truly apologize and I am doing my best to keep everything running as smoothly as possible.

And If you are someone who can help me keep the ship running smooth and wants a job, contact me at hern@montenegro-mfg.com. I don’t expect you to know much about composites fabrication but If you are an artist, craftsman, someone handy who likes to work with your hands. I can teach you the rest. Let’s make some cool shit.

I have a lot of grit to scrub.

Brain Vomit #40 Original

If you have the chance to make anything you want, would you make something original? I think everyone would say yes. But we are all making a version of the same thing. Maybe a little something here and there. Maybe a little more attention to this thing that others might ignore. Maybe we don't want to be misunderstood so we make things people would understand, so we make a version of this with a little bit of that other thing people like and call it original.

Being 100% original is impossible. Can you imagine a color that doesn’t exist? Everything is derivative of something else.

Doing something original comes out of necessity sometimes. You have to make it no matter what and you’ll do the most with what you have and find ingenious ways to achieve your goal. Like a weed growing through concrete, without a foundation or resources.

Being original requires you to reach your goal without a map.

If it is tried and true, a proven concept. Then it’s too late.

grease youR Seat post!

Take it off now. Clean it, put a bit of grease or carbon paste, put it back in. Now. Prevent a very expensive repair.

Brain Vomit #39 Bikes of the future

In the future the bicycle manufacturing process will be similar to the process that everything else is headed. Repetitive tasks will be automated. In theory bikes should become cheaper but I doubt it, most likely shareholders will get larger returns on their investment till the manufacturing method gets adopted by the whole industry. Then the fight to see who sells their bikes for less begins in order to stay in business. Custom made direct to consumer will be possible by a lot of these big companies. Some are already doing a version of this, look at the new Enve bike for example. It’s only a matter of time till Canyon, Specialized, Trek, etc start offering some version of a custom geometry bike. Will they be better than what we ride today? Probably, most likely, but they won’t be that much better. Bikes have been pretty much the same for the last 150 years. The improvements made are less and less every time.

The methods for mass production will change.

3D printers will have a big part in all this. New materials will be made, new forms of production, more efficient than before, more cost effective. “Carbon Fiber 3D printed bikes” already exist though as a person who makes carbon fiber bikes and is an expert in 3D printing, I’m skeptical. Though I have zero doubts that the technology will be better in the future and “Carbon Fiber 3D Printed Bikes that are also recyclable” will be a thing. 3D printed titanium bikes already exist and they are super cool though I feel like these bikes in 10 years are gonna look lame as hell. Once it loses its novelty and is the norm, how would your work stand out then?

I don’t think a lot of makers are thinking about “then”? Most likely, like me, they are thinking about how they will stay in business today. We keep pushing out problems down the line or ignoring the cancer tumor that is now spreading to other vital organs.

We don’t have a production problem, we have a consumption problem. All the cool things we own today one day will be garbage. And they will remain on this earth for much longer than we have been on this planet.

It’s time we start purging out all the clutter in our lives and own the things that we truly want.

I hope we keep this in mind when we design, make and buy things in the future. I hope the bikes of the future don’t end up just being more trash for a later date.

Brain Vomit #38 Innovative design

Are bikes with full internal cables better? I mean Front and rear brake going through the bars, into the headset. Is that actually better? A 10% improvement is a serious improvement. Going from steel to carbon is a serious improvement. Getting a nice set of wheels and tires is a serious improvement, a proper bike fit is a serious improvement. But newer “innovations” don’t even come close to a 1% improvement, not even a .001% anymore. Is that even an improvement? I feel like the full internal cable trend is going backwards. Yes, the bike will be about 0.01% more aerodynamic, but it requires a heavier headset, heavier stem, more time to assemble. Mechanics are not getting cheaper. The other day I found out that a local bike shop was charging $500 to assemble a 2021 Aero road bike and I thought that was ridiculous. After I took a second to think about it I wouldn’t do it for any less than $500 either.

Will that bike actually make you faster or are you just keeping up with the Joneses? If bikes actually got better every year, how is it that Egan Bernal won on a bike that is now 3 years old with a technology that the whole industry is leaving behind? Rim brakes. It is not about the bike or the internal cables or the 13 speed cassette or the grams saved. It’s about your legs, your lungs and your heart. Mental clarity too. If you feel like you NEED these “innovations” you already lost.

Keep bikes simple and beautiful.

Anyway, here's a headtube a made for a new MMFG frame with Integrated cables.

Brain Vomit #37 Handmade

Are we becoming useless? I recently saw a video of a carbon bike being made and they were showing all the parts where a person was working on it and calling it handmade. However, when It came to drill the holes for cable stops it was placed in a jig connected to a CNC router. The person making that bike is a human being doing the job of a machine. There is no craftsmanship needed or passion for the work. It is just a person following a very strict set of rules to produce a commodity as consistent as possible. No changes in the system if that person were to be fired and replaced with another low skill worker. Separate the project into a bunch of small tasks easy enough to be performed successfully by nearly anyone. This is how most systems work from making hamburgers to building bridges. Obviously different levels of education and hierarchy will be necessary to have a system work as efficiently as it can as the system gets bigger. The bigger the system the more a single person's voice is muted by the noise. It’s hard to make change when you are a small cog inside a big machine. When the worker is treated as a cog in the machine the thing they are losing is Human touch, It’s not really hand made anymore even though people made it. Doesn’t matter if the thing is made in Asia, the United States or Germany. Company morals, values, wages, conditions are a completely different conversation and they don’t apply to this post.

If the worker is just there to collect a paycheck and follow a rule book. Turn their brain off for a few hours a day and do his job. The vast majority of people working like this will do the least amount of work they can get away with. Sure, the thing will get the “MADE IN __” Sticker because that’s where it was made. If this is handmade craftsman like myself have to use a different term. Human made. Sure I have machines that help me do my work and a “system” to do things. But it is ultimately up to me to dictate where each piece will go, the functionality of each part I designed, and make a reality the vision in my head.

Holding independent craftsmen to the same standards as the big factories is not only unfair but delusional. Most craftsmen have to do the most with what they have and use their ingenuity to solve new problems. A multimillion dollar factory has to follow the map, the recipe to create to produce the same thing consistently thousands of times. That’s not art, it’s just a product. A factory with machines and systems is designed to make perfect products, anything less is unacceptable. A craftsman makes Art and the small flaws you find are characters of it’s human touch. Art that can perform as well as a perfect product.

Brain Vomit #36 Swiss Army Knife

Be realistic about the bike that you want. You want an aero bike and you want it to be light weight also? Then Expect it to be fragile. You wanna race crits but also race gravel on the same bike? Expect some compromise. There is no such thing as a do-it-all bike, at least not one that can do it all well. But also any bike can do it all if you really put your mind to it. The “Do it All” Bike is a terrible bike. Sure it can do a lot of things but it does everything terrible. I guess if you are a beginner cyclist, then sure get that Gravel/Road/Touring/Commuter/MTB bike. You don’t know what you like yet and so far you can’t justify buying a bike for a specific purpose. But if you are not a beginner cyclist you should know what you want. It’s better to have a sharp knife that can cut really well than a swiss army knife that produces mediocre results and is borderline useless. Lightweight and durable are possible but there’s a limit to how light you can go before the bike becomes fragile. Modern Carbon road bikes are almost too fragile for the average cyclist. High End road bikes are race bikes and they are made to win races. These machines are amazing but in order to be able to take advantage of these very small marginal gains the rider has to be in top notch physical shape. The average ride is healthier than the average citizen but the average cyclist is not going to win championships. If that is your goal then great, you should pursue it but get your priorities straight. Your physical fitness will make the most difference, a proper fit will make a difference, proper sleep, proper diet, good tires, properly tuned and maintained equipment will have a bigger venefit to your performance than a new frame. There is no new ground breaking material being used right now that makes carbon fiber bikes drastically better than they were 2 years ago. Don’t fall for the bullshit.

Brain vomit #35

Enjoy this picture of my desk and my breakfast. There’s a restaurant night next to my bike shop. I tell them what I want and they bring it to my desk. Amazing. I don’t have this kind of breakfast everyday, it’s rare. I try to eat healthy everyday but sometimes I give in. Anyway.
IFYOUHAVEANAVERAGEJOBYOURBOSSCANREPLACEYOUWITHSOMEONECHEAPERORSOMETHINGTHATINTHELONGRUNWILLHAVEABETTERRETURNONINVESTMENTTHISISWHYYOUSHOULDFINDAWAYTOBECOMEIRREPLACEABLEWEALLAREUNIQUEANDCAPABLEOFBEINGIRREPLACABLEBELIEVINGTHATYOURJOBISSECUREBECAUSEOFPOLICIESANDNORMSISNAIVETHEREISNOSUCHTHINGASJOBSECURITYANYMOREFINDSOMETHINGTHATYOULIKEANDBECOMETHEBESTATITNONICHEISTOONICHEIFYOUSTANDOUTYOUCANDOTHIS.

Brain Vomit #34 Keep it simple

STOP FALLING FOR STUPID GARBAGE! Bikes are supposed to be simple. The simpler the better. That’s why fixed gear bikes were such a big hit. You can personalize it, show your individuality and be a unique person. It served as an introduction to cycling. Pre Covid, fixed gear bikes were the biggest influence on people getting into cycling. Then you get into Road, Mountain, Gravel, Triathlons, touring, etc. Now we have bikes with shocks built into their steer tube, fully internal cables and electronics for everything. Some of these are good, I love hydraulic brakes, electronic shifting but we have to draw the line somewhere. A built in shock in steer tube is dumb as hell. Doesn't really work, only trained techs know how to properly work on it. This means that you have to take it to the dealer you bought the bike from and they will charge you a lot more for something overly complicated for a dumb reason. It drives me nuts.

You should be able to work on your own bike with simple tools. BMX figured it out, All you need to take apart a BMX bike is a 6mm Allen Wrench, a 17mm socket, a ratchet and an extension (if you have pegs. If you don't have pegs and bolts on axles all you need is a 6mm allen. Super convenient. The BMX industry also knows that their target market is a bunch of 16 year olds, on average a 16 year old doesn't have a lot of money and they have a lot of free time. A 35 year old on the other hand has money and less time. They are willing to have someone else fix their bike but I feel a lot of these “innovations” are so complex that they have to pay a premium for a simple adjustment. A new problem is created out of a fake need. Stop falling for these traps and ask yourself if that cool new feature is worth it. Think for yourself or the salesman will do the thinking for you. Bikes are simple machines, keep them simple.

Brain Vomit #33 By design

Everything is working exactly how it’s intended to. The rich get richer mostly because of self reinforcing systems designed to keep rich people making money, for all of them their money will make them more money. Poor people don’t have money, and they need it more than everyone else and when they get some extra money instead of using it as a tool to break the cycle they will splurge it on something with short term benefits. That's an easy one to figure out. And for a lot of those getting screwed by the system the answer is: Yes, the system is designed to work against you. What most of them don’t hear is that you can remove yourself from the system and learn how it works. It’s very hard, but it is very possible. I am not financially rich. I have immense amounts of love for my life, my loved ones and what I do. I am a healthy man and I live in the best city in the world. I’m financially stable though not financially wealthy... yet. I was poor when I didn't have all those things. I am not a poor man anymore, I’m quite the opposite, I am a very rich man.

Factories are designed to produce as much as they can; the goods they produce are designed to be as profitable as they can be; the advertising is designed to make you believe you need this good. And by design of our culture, education system, mindset we have been designed to feel the need to buy these commodities. It feels good, I know. But this behaviour is not natural and it has been planted in our beliefs by design. It won’t go away in a generation or two, maybe even one hundred generations. But it has to change. Not a revolution, but a slight shift. Our world is full of garbage we once thought was necessary. We have to design a behavior where the wellbeing of the whole system is prioritized. Or at least designed so most people can selfinduge in selfish behaviour with the least impact possible.

Everyone is a genius but most people are dumb, and that’s by design. And if you are really dumb the following will make you feel like a punching bag but… It’s easy to get fat; it’s easy to become to become addicted to pills, to alcohol, hard drugs, etc., it’s easy to get into debt, It’s easy become poor, It’s easy to fall for clever advertisement, It’s easy to feel like you are missing out, it’s easy to believe that a secret is being kept away from you, it’s easy to believe in conspiracy theories, it’s easy to get scammed, it's easy to think its someone elses fault, it's easy to not be accountable for your own actions, it’s easy to get upset, it’s easy to create a fake need, it's easy to build bad habbits, it’s easy to be dumb. That's the default setting. The system is working exactly how it is designed to work. Now it’s up to you if you want to keep your default settings set by your schools, your churches, the media you consume, your environment, your family and your friends. The choice is yours, follow the status quo, keep eveything working exactly the way it's supposed to or you can challenge it and create the opportunity to design a better future. Build on top of what you already know and fix the bugs in it. Do Not replace it with a different system designed to make you follow a new set of beliefs, that's how conspiracy theorists and cults are created. But Build on top of the values that you have been given and be more than what you were designed to be. We all have the opportunity to leave our ordinary past to become extraordinary people. We can design a new future where we can make everything extraordinary.

Brain Vomit #32 Vaccinated

I got my second dose of the Covid Vaccine today and my arm is sore as hell. I might take the day off tomorrow depending on how I feel though I find it unlikely. Too many projects to finish. Though I should really start making more time for myself. To ride my bike, come up with new ideas, avoid burnout, decompress.

The tool I made yesterday didn't work and the seat post I’ve been working on is still super stuck. It’s super frustrating and my arm is sore. I’m taking tomorrow off. Hopefully by Friday the problem will have solved itself. If only that was possible.

Brain Vomit #31 Seat Post Problem

Sometimes when I get jobs that are supposed to be 20 minutes long and turn into small feats of ingenuity to solve them. I like a challenge but I don’t like that I’m getting paid for a 20 minute job for something that would be invaluable for your bike. I am the end of the road, I can’t send them to someone else because I am the option where It alls fails, Hern can fix it. I am the worst case scenario guy.

I have a stuck seat post on a very expensive hand made carbon bike. It’s really stuck, we tried everything, now the post broke and the rest of the tube is stuck inside the frame. It's in about 10”. I decided to 3D print a holder for my saw blade and cut the seat post along it’s length without damaging the frame. Pictures tomorrow.

Brain Vomit #30 The Game

When there’s nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire. The new age of capitalism will be a different animal that evolved to be poisonous to the big strong beast. They will stay away from it because if they want to eat it, It will make them sick.

When everything has been invented and the pieces of the pie start to get smaller and smaller. In order to keep playing, a new game will be invented. Only those who learn the new rules will be able to thrive. The current game, the current system is running out of resources and soon enough no one will be able to play. Whether we want to or not we are all in it and have to learn to play it. Most people are losing faith in it, the future is hopeless. A new challenge will change everything. A new challenge is here. Though it’s not new, we all knew that the end would come one day. The end is much closer than we think.

Climate change, pollution, health crisis and over consumption are some of the new challenges. There’s a lot of money to be made in solving these challenges and those who learn the new rules of the game will become the new giants. Giants in a better world, a hopeful world where everyone involved would want to keep playing. Where the wellbeing of the new system has a priority over the monetary return.

Brain Vomit #29 Gimmicks

What if we looked at purchases on the basis of how much space they take? What if we had an infinite amount of money but an extremely small amount of space? What if you don't have money and space? What if there was no judgement or socioeconomic class associated with that purchase? Would you buy that new thing if it wasn’t really better/faster/lighter than before? Do you actually need something that is better than what you have before? If space is limited, where would you put it?

That cool new thing you got sooner or later will be trash. If space is limited you probably want your things to remain working for as long as possible.

There’s only more and more of us. Soon there will be more trash in the world than actual working things. We have to start looking at the things we buy as future trash rather than some gimmick that is better than an older gimmick just for the sake of keeping up with trends.